PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s Federal Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour has been barred by the British government from travelling to the UK in retaliation for the bounty he offered for the murder of a US filmmaker.
Yesterday, Bilour shrugged off the ban and said he stood by his words more firmly now.
He said a British government envoy had conveyed to him the decision of his government.
Bilour offered $100,000 bounty for anyone who kills the maker of an anti-Islam film, ‘Innocence of Muslims’.
The railways minister, who visited Britain last year, said he was unmoved by the decision because it would save his dollars.
“I have already spoken my mind to the UK diplomat who delivered a letter to me that I don’t care and anyone daring blasphemy will face the Prophet’s (PBUH) lovers,” he said.
Georgian soldier killed in Afghanistan
TBILISI: A Georgian soldier has been killed while serving with Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, the defence ministry said yesterday.
The death of 22-year-old Corporal Mindia Abashidze brings to 18 the number of Georgian troops killed in Afghanistan.
“Corporal Abashidze died while carrying out a combat assignment within the framework of the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan,” the defence ministry said in a statement, without giving the date of his death.
Georgia is a staunch ally of the United States with ambitions to join Nato and currently has 800 troops serving in Afghanistan -- the second largest deployment by a non-Nato member.
Tbilisi’s Nato aspirations have infuriated neighbour Russia, which fought a brief war with Georgia in 2008.
Agencies
